Behind blue eyes
by LGZSPECCY
Summary: After graduation Elena is compelled to forget anything supernatural, including all memories of Damon and Stefen. Her life now is questionable, yet successful. What happens when she sees those blue eyes that haunt her thoughts
1. Chapter 1

**a/n: new idea that keeps playing on my mind. Delena. M rated. Once again II live in NZ and I'm bad with American geography etc. **

ElenaPOV

I was sliding up and down the stripper pole, doing what I've done for the last four years. Well, four years part time during the weekends, but full-time now that I couldn't be bothered finding a job.

I'd left Mystic Falls after High School. Honestly I don't remember much of it. I woke up in hospital after graduation night, apparently I'd been in a car crash – another one. I'd lost a lot of important memories, but people had filled them in. My parents passed away, Matt and I broke up and I stayed single throughout the rest of high school. I don't remember any parties or any weekends or fun activities my friends and I did. Almost as if someone had taken all the good times away. Caroline and Bonnie tell me I was fun though, I'd also somehow become friends with Tyler Lockwood? What was that about?

Anyway, my grades were so good I got accepted into Harvard, apparently. I somehow managed to get A+ in all my classes and graduated with high class honours.

I became a recluse in college. I just felt like something was missing. I really missed whatever that something was. All I have left from those years is a necklace that Jeremy and Caroline had told me to never take off, as it was "really important" for me to keep on my body at all times. Thanks for explaining that one, guys.

Because Jenna had died in some weird accident that no one could really explain to me, and my parents money for college wasn't enough to cover Harvard fee's, I had to start paying for myself, which is why I turned to stripping, even though I had a scholarship, it only covered half my fee's.

I only intended to it for one night, covering for my roommate who I'd become really close friends with – Sophia. She promised it was great money, boy she wasn't lying. I made almost $2000 in the first night. That was more than enough for the months' rent and food, another couple of nights and I could pay off my fees for the year.

I got dragged down though. I never filled that empty gap that seemed to be missing in my heart. Had I had a child and lost it somewhere along the way? The hole that was missing from my heart was huge.

When I graduated college, instead of finding a job I bought the club. Yep, I had made so much money I managed to pay my fee's, my debt I'd accumulated, and managed to outright buy the club, which had apartments above it that I collected rent on.

However, I took my job a step further after I graduated. Sick of the hole I had in my heart. Sick of being lonely at night.

My parents would be rolling in their graves in they found out. I hadn't even told Sophia, my best friend. No one knew what I got up when I took clients upstairs for private shows. I discovered one night that it filled the void I'd been missing. Only temporarily – until the next night – but for those couple of minutes or hours (depending how much the men or woman were willing to pay) I felt wanted, and I felt like I was making them feel wanted.

I was good at that. Lying. Lying to customers about who I was. Lying to Caroline, Bonnie and Jeremy that I was fine and just too busy to call them. Lying to myself that I was OK.

Because I wasn't OK. The void, no matter how hard I tried to fill it, night after night, somehow kept growing bigger. I started to feel guilty for whoever it was that I was somehow missing. Was I in a relationship before the second crash I was in, and somehow I had forgotten about it? Perhaps my body was now subconsciously telling me that I had a boyfriend somewhere, and I shouldn't be letting these men and woman see me naked, let alone be fucking them? Even though the pleasure they gave me put me on cloud nine for all of an hour afterwards. That's right, not only did my customers have to pay me, but that had to get me off, otherwise I tripled my price. I was worth at least my own temporary happiness, I thought.

I'd gone from the cheerful happy cheerleader I remember being in high school, to a rather skinny and sickly looking empty shell of a woman I was now. An honours degree under my non-existent belt. The only courses I was actually using to my profit where the three business management papers I had taken. The papers I took out of interest because honestly, my teaching degree was boring and I was kind of hoping the business papers would be interesting.

Whatever. I was racking in the cash now. Writing it off as profits from the bar and from stripping alone. I had quite a lot saved up. I'd already bought an entire master suite in an apartment block on the better side of town, and I drove the most bitchn' car I could find. A 1968 V8 baby blue Camaro. I had no idea why I loved that car. I had never in my life taken an interest in cars – let alone classic cars, until I woke up from the second car crash.

The car itself was in some old guy's back yard, rusting away. I had to have it. I took some night courses at the local tech school and graduated as an apprentice mechanic.

Yeah, I had insomnia. In four years I managed to get an honours degree in secondary teaching and become an apprentice mechanic. Not that I ever finished the apprenticeship. Honour school got a bit tough to juggle with stripping and a full time apprenticeship.

Anyway, I built all that I had time for, all that I could achieve on my own, then just wrote cheque after cheque to get a classic car garage to finish the rest. It was my graduation gift to myself. Why baby blue? I had no idea. I wanted it to be a darker blue. I had these eyes in my mind – yes, eyes from a human body type of eyes – the most beautiful blue they were. But I could not for the life of me find the exact colour to match them, so the second best? Baby Blue.

The car was a head turner, to say the least. Loud and grunty, yet so smooth to drive – well, a bit heavy because the engine weighed so god damn much, but still. It was my baby, even though I had no idea why I had formed this attachment to it.

So here I was. Elena Gilbert. A stick thin woman, clad in nothing but a g-string, grinding up and down a pole, shaking my booty for tips. Trying to find a culprit to take upstairs tonight as I twisted and turned on the pole.

And then I saw it. I had to blink and shake my head, but those eyes. In the corner of my bar, those damn eyes I'd been dreaming about ever since I woke up after graduation, they were here. In my bar. I had to meet him.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: OK this has a smut scene with **_**not **_**Damon. OK SPOILERS it's Kol. I just wanted Damon to know the full extent of what Elena was doing… **

**I don't own TVD. I forgot to mention that in the first chapter. **

**DPOV**

I'd been looking for Elena for six months in this damn state. I watched her graduate, but I didn't follow her home. I thought I'd give her time to find a new job and settle into a new state. Finding her would be easy, it wasn't like she was compelled to not use her real name.

However when I scoured the internet for her – more like stalking her Facebook page, it still stated she lived in Massachusetts, with "bar owner" as her occupation. Bar owner? What?

I'd been searching for days in all the high class fancy bars, and then the more homey English / Irish type pubs. Those were the types of bars I could see her owning. But now I'd given up, thinking perhaps she had moved and hadn't updated her profile. I walked into this strip club to just have a drink before I hit the road the next morning, you know? Chill out a little and watch some beautiful girls on the poles.

If my heart was beating at a normal human rate, it probably would of burst out of my damn chest when I saw her up on stage. She as skinny as hell, worse for wear then she on her graduation day. The dark circles under her eyes – what the fuck? Was she on drugs now? Her hips protruding out and looking unsightly, yet the guys here loved it. They loved her, I could tell by the way the men in front of her were watching her, not only with lust, but… wait, was that adoration? They adored my Elena who was working that damn pole like a pro? Where the fuck did she learn that?

I had kept tabs on her over the last 4 years, only to make sure she was alive and had money in her bank account. She was doing really well, I had no idea she was stripping though. Did Stefan know? That son of a….. I should call him…

"Stefan! I found Elena…." I started, how the hell do you tell your brother that his ex-girlfriend who he still loves in now a stripper and possibly on drugs?

"Where about? Her Facebook says she's still in MA"

"Yep. In a strip club, brother" I thought I better come out with it "She looks pretty unhealthy, Stef, I think she's on drugs…"

"I know about the stripping." Stefan said "but not the drugs, nor that she was still doing it"

"Stefan! We said we wouldn't delve into her life! We'd just leave her be…" I said, pulling at my hair, why the hell didn't he tell me about this? I could of helped her financially, she wouldn't of had to of known.

"Yeah but we also agreed to let her get on with her own life while she's in college. Unless she started harming herself or those around her, we all agreed to stay out until now"

He had a point. She was a free woman. Each and every single one of us agreed that Stefan and I would stay out of her live until she graduated.

Which was shit for me because she finally realized that she wanted to _be _with me. That's right. She switched brothers. Who didn't see it coming? It just took time, was all.

"Stefan, she's walking my way? What do I do?" I said, almost panicking.

"Do as we all agreed. The compulsion wears off when she looks into your eyes and learns your name, Damon. But you need to get her away from the bar before you tell her your name, the memories we took away from here will come flooding back…. It may not be a pretty sight, losing her parents, Jenna, Jeremy multiple times, Alaric, well… you know what happens. Get her away from crowds" Stefan said "And brother, don't fuck this up. She loved you before we tore that away from her. Don't make me regret not finding her before you got to her. I still love her"

God this twit would never give up on her, would he? "Alright, brother. Cya 'round"

**EPOV**

Those eyes belonged to a man sitting in the back of my bar, well I guess, more towards the front door in the corner. I motioned for Sophia to take over from me, I had to find out who this man was.

I jumped down from the stage, both men and woman "boo'ing" me, some started to follow, but I held my hand up in a "stop" motion, and they all obeyed. I was queen around here. No denying it.

This was the man that haunted my dreams when I finally got to sleep. This was the man who I assumed had influenced my decision to buy my Camaro. This the _the man_.

I strode up to him, shoulder square, face looking forwards. Making myself look staunch, but as I got closer I relaxed more. This guy looked like a bad guy. Fuck I loved bad guys. He was wearing black jeans with a tight black t-shirt… oh fuck I wanted to rip it off him right then and there. I could see the outlines of his chiselled chest, and his hair, oh is raven black hair. I just wanted to run my hands through it.

"Elena?" He questioned as soon as I was a mare few inches from him.

"You know me. You know my name. I dream of you. Those eyes…" I said, gazing into the blue orbs that consumed many of my waking and dreaming moments. "Please tell me your name" I added. I had lifted my hands up to touch his face, stroking his cheeks gently.

"I can't tell you that right now, Elena. How about you finish your shift here, and then we get out of here? Alone?"

For some reason I trusted this man. I had a strict policy which stated that none of my girls were to leave with a man, and any man they wanted to leave with had to have my approval _when they began working for me_. But this man…. I trusted him with my life for some reason, and I didn't even know his name.

"OK. I have a few things to do, the bar closes at 1am tonight, I'll be upstairs… ah... Doing businesses, after that we can leave. I'll tell my staff to allow you to stay here during close up"

I closed my eyes and walked away. I had meet eyes with a regular client while I was up on stage and he "nodded" at me, showing me he was interested tonight. I had to find him and finish the job. Sure I had literally meet the man of my dreams, but I still needed to make cash, plus today was stressful and I needed a realse. Sex was the best way I knew how. Aside from drugs, but I was seriously trying to lower my usage. Seriously. I was!

I found the young Englishman, Kol was his name. He was thin and rather handsome, he had a little dimple on his chin that made me giggle every time I saw it. I have no idea why, but it was so cute! He looked like a teenager but he'd showed me ID plenty of times that said he was 21. His English accent turned me on so quickly. He was my favourite client. He took an interest in my life and for some reason it felt like I'd known him in a past life or something. He sure seemed to know me before he meet me in the club.

"Hi love, glad you found me, shall we head upstairs?" he asked, taking my hand

"Sure thing, Kol. Today's been a bit stressful so I'm glad it's you that came in tonight and not some other creep, auditors came round trying to rummage through my accounts! Can you believe it? I've only owned the place for 6 fucking months. Although I did just meet the blue eyed man I told you about, I'm meeting with him again after we close shop" I explained, tugging him upstairs. Not only was Kol polite and sensitive, he was a great lover. One of the few I kept on as "regulars" and who I gave discounts too because… boy, did the man know how to please a woman.

"That's great, love! Let's get this show on the road, shall we?" he asked as we walked into my private room.

I was already down to my G-string, so there was no need to take my clothes off, but I was eager to get into his pants. I ripped his shirt off, raking my nails down his chest as he nibbled on neck. He loved my neck, I have no idea why.

"Mmm, keen, are we?" He laughed,

He pushed me against the door and wrapped my legs around his waist, he pulled my G-string off, and moved his hands between us, he started teasing my folds as he kissed down my neck, he moved us to the bed in the centre of the room and laid me down, and I unhooked my legs from his waist. He finally reached my breasts were my nipples were already standing at full attention. "Bite me, Kol" I begged. He did this thing with his teeth… Ever so gently scraping them along my nipples and breasts, when he clamped his teeth around my nipple and sucked hard, he pushed two fingers inside of me, pumping in and out, curling them to hit my g-spot.

"mmm Kol please just fuck me," I whined as he was between my breasts, kissing the sides of baths, sucking and pulling each nipple in turn.

"Your wish is my command, sweet heart" he grinned, whipping his pants off and laying on top of me.

He entered me swiftly, no waiting around or teasing like he usually does, my legs went around his waist to pull him closer, god I was so close to cumming, whenever I was with Kol there was no question whether he would take care of my needs or not. He did this thing where he hummed in my ear and oh lawdy did it make me explode.

He was pushing hard and fast into me, grinding his pelvic bone into my clit at the same time, he was a _very _talented lover, maybe he can have this for free, tonight? I thought.

"Mmmm yes, hard…Kol please…. Ahh…." I whined again, my nails digging into his back. He started humming and that just pushed me over the edge, I exploded into what felt like a million pieces, and he always knew what to do when I came, he pushed one last time deep inside me, releasing himself – I trusted Kol, no protection was needed for him – it turned me on even more, feeling him release inside of me, I fucked _him _while he was deep in me, him still, me going crazy on the bottom, trying to get more, maybe another round? I was ready all over again

"Stay calm, sweet dove" he whispered

"Huh?"

"KOL WHAT THE FUCK?!" I heard a loud voice boom from the door

"DAMON! Mate! I wonder when you'd join us, old friend!" Kol said, and with that, his face changed form… the skin below his eyes became darker, veins rippling through his face, his teeth... They grew into fangs…. Wait, "Damon"? That was the man's name?  
I turned to look at the man and I questioned, looking into those blue orbs "Damon?" I said out loud

The right side of my neck exposed, Kol bit me. He sunk his newly exposed fangs into my neck, right as the memories of who Damon was came flooding back to me.

Damon. My boyfriend. The man who fought for me over 3 years, only to have every memory of him "compelled" away from me when I had finally chosen him.

Fuck.


	3. Chapter 3

**DPOV**

Oh god, Kol was draining her as if there was no damn tomorrow. What the fuck? How long has he been seeing her?

"Kol, you gotta stop man, please!" I shouted, rushing over to the bed where Elena was laying under him

"Aw come on mate! Can't we just share before you whisk her away? Then again, maybe she doesn't want to leave! She likes her clients" he winked at me.

"Clients?" I asked standing up. Kol pulled himself off Elena and started finding his clothes around the room – ok great, he wasn't trying to kill her.

"What mate? You think I'd be in a relationship with Elena? I'm a free spirt! Can't tie me down" he said, he pulled his wallet out of his jeans pocket... where was this going exactly?

"Tell Elena I said 'thanks babe, have to do it again sometime' and tell her the cash in on the draws" he said as he put down a wad of cash

"Wait a minute…." I said, walking over to the dresser

"Oh, you haven't been keeping tabs on her? Your girlfriend is a prostitute, mate. One of the best in town, actually. Imagine my surprise when I rocked up to the bar just expecting to find some beautiful strippers, but instead I found the wonderful _compelled to forget all supernatural beings _stripping on the pole?"

Kol winked as he walked out of the room.

My girlfriend was a prostitute? Jesus Christ… How could I not keep tabs on her! Why had I agreed to stay out of her life! Shit.

She started to stir, and I bit down on my wrist and shoved it to her mouth. Kol had taken a lot of blood, did he do this often? Or was it just a onetime thing?

"Damon" she breathed when I pulled my wrist away.

"Oh god Damon... I'm so sorry… so so so sorry…" she cried, she must have remembered who I was, obviously.

"Shhh baby girl, it's OK…."

"Wait, why I am sorry?" she asked, sitting up very quickly. "You compelled me to forget _everything!_!" she yelled, her hand flying up to her head "oh shit…." She whimpered, falling back down to the bed, her eyes fluttering.

There was no time to argue, I had to get her some food and orange juice or something. Anything to get her blood sugars up. Clearly my blood hadn't healed her, or it was taking its sweet arse time.

"Look, Elena. Can we get out of here? I can explain everything later, when you're feeling a bit better"

"He knew. Kol knew who I was…" she said dreamily. I lifted her and took her down stairs, wrapped in a blanket from the bed she was on. I compelled the staff to close up, Elena was going home sick and not coming back for a few days.

I had no idea where she was living, so I drove us back to my own hotel room. Her eyes were fluttering, she was out cold. But she had my blood and that'd at least keep her alive, and then slowly heal her.

After getting to my room and dressing her in some of my sweats and a baggy t-shirt I had bought along, I gently woke her up.

"You need to eat. Pizza? Still your fav?" I asked, stroking her hair gently

"No Damon. You know your pasta is my fav. Salvatore specialty." She tried to smile.

I sighed. Absolutely no food in the kitchen… I hadn't really planning on needing to nurse her back to health, I thought maybe the first time we meet again we could go on a date.

"I'm sorry baby girl. Maybe tomorrow night. Pizza will have to do for now."

I called the pizza number the hotel had included in a welcome back, when I got off the phone I went back to wear Elena was on the couch.

"So… Kol…?" I wasn't sure how to approach this – not at all.

"I ah. _Yeah…_ I was stripping one night when I needed a few extra dollars for rent, had been a slow week, I just… I don't know. I saw this cute guy across the room who propositioned me. He was cute, promised a good time, and offered good money." She sighed, it look like it pained her to tell me this

"As I continued on, I made a deal with all my clients. Get me off, and you can have _it… _cheaper… It worked, too. It filled the void that I now know was you and Stefan, only for a while though... God, how could you do that to me? I still have chunks of my life coming back… why would you compel it all away, Damon?"

I had no idea where to begin, honestly.

"Elena, soon enough I'm sure you'll get a memory of this, but we've done some research and it's safe to tell you before you remember, so I guess I'll just go for it?" I hummed and ha'd. I really didn't want to tell her this.

"On your graduation day, you asked to be turned. You wanted me to take you away we would go traveling. However, the entire gang – not just me... we couldn't convince you to change your mind. You refused to go to college, didn't want a normal life. Except that's what we all wanted for you…. On top of that, Klaus found a way to actually make hybrids from your blood. We had to hide you until we took him down or at least came to an agreement. You turning into a vampire would have angered him a lot more then not knowing where you were. So we shipped you off to Harvard, put a massive protection spell on you, so if people with ill intent for Elena Gilbert were in your presence, your face wouldn't show true to them. Trust me, it took some months working on that spell. We almost lost Bonnie, and that was with a coven of 10 witches plus her and Lucy. It was a tough decision to make… but we just wanted you to be safe"

"Safe? I'm a mother fucking prostitute!" she yelled. Well, this wasn't going as I expected... or what is? Even though she's all I thought about through the past four years, for some reason I never really planned how this was going to go down.

"Elena, please! I'm sorry… If I knew you were struggling I would of helped"

"If you had done as I asked in the first place, I wouldn't of had to of struggled!"

"Oh come on, Elena. Didn't you have fun though? Make lots of friends, a couple boyfriends along the way? Have the great collage experience?" That was the entire point of compelling her… We had even agreed that if she'd settled down with another guy or gal, we'd leave her be. But she hadn't, so here I was. Trying and failing to woo her back somehow.

"Does it _look _like I had boyfriends? And had a fun life? All my free nights were spent stripping. I mean sure, there were nights I enjoyed it. But work is _still work._ I didn't go to parties I wanted, meet with guys that flirted with me in class, because between working and doing assignments, I had no time."

I wasn't really sure what to say. The entire point of this was so she could have a normal life.

The hotel buzzer went off, "must be the pizza guy" I said, going to buzz him up.

When the pizza came, we ate in silence, well, she ate. I wasn't really hungry for human food.

"Fuck" Elena cried in pain, holding her head. "Jenna…." She whimpered, closing her eyes, they started fluttering and I could tell she was reliving the night of the sacrifice.

"She's dead, isn't she? Gone? She didn't come back at all?" She asked

"Elena, I'm so sorry…" I had no idea what to say

"Well, I guess I got over it… I mean I was 15 then, now I'm 22. I guess… I guess I survived and pushed through. So I only have Jeremy left?"

"And me and Stef, Caroline, Bonnie, Matt and Tyler"

"They're not family"

"They _were _family before we sent you away. We'd become family. We had Christmas together, thanksgiving, celebrated eachothers birthdays. We were a dysfunctional family, Elena."

"And now I have my degree it's going to go back to that, is it?"

"We had all hoped, yeah"

She was silent, picking up another piece of pizza and chewing through it.

"I… I guess. I mean, this hole in my heart I've had for four years, it almost feels filled just.. meeting you. I dreamed about your blue eyes so often. The car I own now… That's… That's the same as your car! I knew there was a reason behind why I _had _to have it!"

"You own a '68 Camaro?" I was shocked, she'd never shown interest in cars when I was with her. I mean, she always smiled when I opened my baby up on the freeway, but…. Going so far as buying one?

"Of course. Painted her baby blue. She was a bit… worse for wear when got her, but, well. Its not like I couldn't afford to fix 'er up. I take her to classic shows now and then, guys love a chick behind a wheel, ya know"

"There's no need to tell me, babe" I said, smirking at her, happy she was talking without raising her voice.

"Damon, I don't know about this, us. I mean, Oh god…" she closed her eyes again. Yep, the flash backs keep coming back

"The way I left Stefan…." She sighed. Yeah, that'd been horrible, more like, he broke up with her out of anger from a petty fight and we both got drunk and fucked for days, with Stefan coming home to smell us all over the house.

I still stayed silent. I had no idea what the fuck to say now. Then it hit me.

"Let me woo you back, Elena. Please. I've waited for this moment for years, but let's just pretend to be strangers, let me take you on dates, make you fall in love with me again".

"My work?"

"Well… I'm ah, not really comfortable with you working in a strip club"

"I own the place, Damon"

"OK, well how about I work there with you…" I started

"Damon we don't really have male strippers, although I can say all my girlfriends would be keen to come and watch you on the pole" She giggled. God had I missed that sweet sound. Music to my damn ears.

"No, I meant behind the bar. Why don't we start a romance like normal people? Meeting at a busy bar, I'll shyly ask you on a date, yadda yadda"

"Well it's kind of pre-organised…. But I guess, well, I haven't really had a date since Matt"

"Ahum..."

"OK, OK, yeah I'm sorry. And you and Stefan, but it's all still coming back to me."

"I guess that means I can't hold you and…"

She stood up suddenly, taking a step backwards "No, I, ah. Don't think I can trust myself, or you… To not compel me again and make this night go away"

"Elena, I wouldn't do that." I stood up to go and hold her, console her. Just wrapping my arms around her made her moan softly.

"Damon, these past four years have been hell. I feel like I don't know myself. Plus, god, when you said you were going to compel me, it broke my heart. Like you didn't love me." She started crying at that, burying her head into my chest "I hated you for that moment…" she mumbled, grabbing my shirt in her fists "But every night when I saw your eyes in my dreams, or drove my Camaro, I knew that somewhere there was someone who loved me… I just didn't know who or where."

I put my finger under her chin and made her look up into my eyes "Hey, baby girl. I'm here now, OK? I… We all… Just wanted you to have a normal life" I smiled at her, not my silly smirk, but my smile I gave her when she finally admitted her feelings. My "I'm happy" smile.

"God I missed your face" she said. Reaching up quickly to peek my lips. She still had the softest lips I've ever kissed, the scent of vanilla still surrounded her. To have her in my arms again was just the perfect gift. But gosh, she was skinny, thin as a rake. I was a bit concerned.

"Elena, look, I know we're just going to try… get to know each other again but… Are you… Taking drugs?" she blushed at my question, burying her head again into my chest.

"I…. I do some crystal here and there. Just to get me through the night, you know."

"You've gotta stop, how deep in are you?"

"I'm fine, Damon. I can stop on my own! It's just a little recreational activity"

I looked down at her, filing that bit of information away for later, I'd talk to her more about it tomorrow, when she'd recovered from Kol draining her. I was stroking her cheek when she spoke next;

"Why don't we watch a movie or something?" she suggested, pulling back from my grasp a little.

"Sure thing. I told your work you won't be in for a few days"

"My work? Damon I own the place" she looked at me confused

"Oh, right. Well then I guess I don't need to compel the owner to hire me" I smirked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah well, tomorrow is pay day so I have to go in and give everyone their paycheques" she sighed "I'm thinking of paying them more because I just.. I have to much money and it's becoming a real issue, I'll have to start hiding it soon"

"Elena, you're not… going to carry on with the prostitution and stripping, are you?" please say no, Jesus Christ… say no.

"The prostitution? No, but stripping? I mean, the bar doesn't make _that _much money. I mean, my apartment is totally paid off, I have no debt, but I like my lifestyle now that I'm not in uni"

"I have money for us, you know that"

"Perhaps that memory hasn't come back yet, but lets not talk about it now. You're supposed to be woo'ing me. Not trying to make me a gold digger" she snigged and sat back down on the couch.

I got up to throw some random comedy on, I knew she always watched these because, and I quote "we have to much action and drama in our own lives"

"You remembered…" she smiled.

"of course baby, that stuck with you then? Through these last four years?"

"Yeah, well sometimes my flatmate made me watch the odd chick flick drama show, or her boyfriend would make us watch action, but I've always preferred comedy"

She leaned into me when the pizza was all done, her head resting on my lap, and my fingers slowly playing with her hair.

"I feel home, somehow. With you, right now. I just feel.. Safe…"

I had to laugh at that "You loved me because I gave you adventure"

"Well yeah" she responded "But… I trust you to keep me safe during those times" she smiled.

We watched the movie in a comfortable silence, almost like old times. Except we slept separately, which I knew we wouldn't sleep together the first night, but it still killed me a little to not hold her while she slept.

**EPOV – One week later**

It was so weird having Damon in my life now. And despite trying to tell Damon I would be OK with all my memories rushing back, when he dropped me off at home the following morning I sobbed in bed for a good few hours, reliving the death of my folks and of Jenna. It was just too much to hold in. I relived the entire thing. The time leading up to it, during it, and after it. Of both deaths. It was pretty heavy, but then I actually did remember that I got over it. And it had been like five years. I had to get over it.

Damon still acted the same as my memories told me he did, and screw me over if it wasn't making me fall in love all over again with him. Was it to quick? We hadn't even been on our first date, which was happening tonight after we both knocked off work. I had agreed to stop stripping, he had agreed to make us more business to get the cash coming in.

Damon had suggested we become a restaurant of sorts. It's not like we didn't have the facilities. So now we had a breakfast opening from 6am until 10am, then we opened again at our usual time of 1pm for late lunch and stayed open until midnight on, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. And 3am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Closed on a Sunday. It worked well. It meant myself and Sophia could take a day off without worrying about who was managing the club. I didn't mind that Damon had come and made changes, if anything it took a lot of stress off my shoulders I had no idea I was even carrying. I hadn't even touched a pipe since the night we meet again.

"So" Sophia asked while we were cleaning up from the breakfast shift "This Damon guy... He's from your past?"

Oh man, how to tell Sophia about him, what he was…. What I'd been through…. Then I realized something, almost the same way I realized Stefan was a vampire. Whenever she broke a glass and I thought I saw blood she'd say it was nothing.

"Wait a minute… You… You…." I was speechless.

She broke into laughter, "Yep, Caroline stuck me here to keep an eye on you"

"For four years though?"

"Yeah well, I owed her a favour. She saved my arse with witch a few years back. She asked me to infiltrate my way into your life and make sure you'd be safe without letting on I was a vampire" she said while casually counting money from the morning shift.

"Caroline?"

"Long story, buddy. We met on summer holidays when she went down under. A witch friend of hers was super mad at me. Apprently I hit on her a bit _too_ much and she got angry, realized I was a vampire, and attempted to kill me for no good reason really!"

"Bonnie Bennet? I asked, laughing

"Yeah, that's the one! Beautiful girl, smelled like she'd taste _gooooood_ and I don't mean her blood" she smiled, winking

"Yeah… She's not down with vampires or…. Woman. She's straight as straight can be" I said giggling, then I clicked "Oh, hence why you started a few weeks after collage actually started"

"Yeah, had to get transferred and all that shit out here from NY" she replied "Took you long enough to figure it out. I cut myself so many times and healed right in front of you"

"I guess I just blocked it out…" I sighed. "Damon has nothing to do with this?"

"Oh, I know him…." She started, I guess I put on a pretty upset face because she quickly jumped to correct herself "Argh, god not like that. I was a friend of Lexi's. I'd met him once or twice. No darl, you know me. I don't swing that way."

"Yeah.. I know all about it…" I giggled. We had a bit of an... On again off again relationship. Well, not a relationship, more like a "I'm horny, wanna fuck?" relationship.

Damon walked in, bright smile on his face "Hey baby girl" I grinned and blushed muttering a "hi". I have no idea why he made me nervous when other people were around

"SOPHIA?! Wow! Long time!"

"Damon you cunt! I heard about what you did to Lexi and I am _not _happy with you"

"If you were going to harm me, you would have done it by now" he grinned

"Yeah yeah, so she fucked me over in the relationship department, maybe I'm not so mad. But still, what a cunt.." she sneered at him then burst into laughter, running over to him and punching him in the arm "Good to see ya, mate". Oh, did I mention Sophia was a kiwi?

Damon just patted her on the back with a nod "You too, Soph. Can I pinch Elena away now?" I guess he didn't want to get into histories.

"Sure can, we're done here anyway. Just filling her in on the fact her best friend put me here to spy, and then in turn I replaced her best friend as... Well... her best friend..." Sophia liked to ramble a lot, I loved her for it. Took my mind off that gaping hole in my heart.

"All right, Soph, let's go 'Lena". I ran over to Damon and kissed his cheek gently, we'd become close over this past week, even though he usually worked the night shift on the bar while I was doing accounts out back. I actually hadn't seen him since yesterday morning because I gave him and two other staff the day off.

"Anymore memories come back?" he asked. I blushed so hard. Last night while I was in bed reading a rather raunchy book, I fell asleep and had a rather intense dream about Damon and me. I knew it was real because I woke up and recounted the entire things a million times, including what happened before and after. After thinking about it for a while, I figured out it was the first time we made love, well, we were drunk. So I guess it was the first time we fucked.

"Ahhhhh…" I said, not really wanting to lie and say I didn't, but not really wanting to say the truth.

"I know that look, Miss Gilbert. That's the same look you had when we woke up after our weekend of fucking and love making and you were sober. Embarrassed, shy, yet wanting to go at it again" he winked at me. God he made me want to melt in a puddle.

"Mmmhmm, well missy, I'll just have to romance you and then we can make that happen all over again, although maybe less the drunken part – I want it to be perfect"

"Damon Salvatore, my memories of you tell me nothing of a man wanting to romance _and _be sober at the same time" He just laughed at me

"Sweet heart, there are obviously still some memories you're missing" he bent down to kiss the top of my head, his arm was over my shoulder.

"Were are we headed?" I asked, I had noticed we walked past his car, and he wasn't hailing

"It's a secret" he said, before picking me up, and vamping me over a couple of blocks to a boutique store. He put me down and said "We're going to a fancy restaurant, and because I couldn't get into your house because you haven't _invited me in yet…" _he furrowed his eye brows "… I must insist you buy a nice new dress, something classy, black. I love black. Run along, I'll be back to fetch you in… Say… An hour?" He asked before vamping away again.

I walked into the store and was greeted by a young man dressed in a very fancy suit. "Welcome, Miss Gilbert. Mr Salvatore told us you would be along today, and gave us his permission to let you buy anything you'd like in this store. What a lovely man you have!" the man winked at me. Silly Damon. I could afford this on my own… But if collage taught me anything, never pass up free things!

I walked the racks, not really seeing anything I fancied. The clerk picked up on this and came to help me. "Miss Gilbert, I don't mean to be so forward, but if you'd like to wait in the dressing room in your undergarments, I will bring you some nice dresses I think will suit you perfectly. What dress and shoe size are you?"

I told him my measurements and went to wait in the changing room.

"Miss Gilbert? This will be perfect." He said a few minutes later, handing me a silk black dress through the curtain

"This is a bit… Elegant, don't you think?" I asked

"Miss Gilbert, this is exactly what Mr Salvatore is after. He's told me your plans for the evening and I think this will be perfect" The man smiled and shoved the dress a little more in my direction so I'd take it. It was a very form fitting dress, it only started to become a little lose around the knees, and it had a keyhole neckline and honestly I thought it'd choke me because I was used to wearing t-shirts or V-necks, but it felt comfortable once it was on. The straps were thick and had what I had hoped where fake Diamonds studded on them.

"Ah, sir, will you come and look?" I was a bit unsure…. Plus I could totally see her bra through the small keyhole

"Ah, Miss Gilbert, if you don't mind, please remove your bra. This dress will flatter your breasts, you do not need it"

I blushed a little and went back behind the curtain to remove my bra, noticing my panty line showing, too, I threw them off aswell.

"Tut, Tut. Mr Salvatore. It was supposed to be a surprise! Here, Miss Gilbert, are your shoes. Mr Salvatore tells me that you can walk in very high shoes, but seeing as your gown is so beautiful and long, I thought these lovely black kitten heels with a cute bow will go nicely. Mr Salvatore has already paid, we just need to make sure they fit" the clerk motioned to the shoe fitting chair behind me, So I took a seat and he helped put the shoes on.

"Wala! 'Tis perfect beauty!" the clerk said as I stood up. "Now, now. Off you two go. On your way! Ahhh young love" he said. I had to giggle, if only he knew how old Damon really was. I suppose we looked almost the same age now.

When we got outside, there was a stretch limo waiting outside.  
"Now don't be mad, I know you hate being pampered and spoiled, but I think I owe you for compelling you and all…." Damon said as he opened the door to the limo for me.

"Ahum, and the four years of sleepless nights, confusion, and that empty feeling you gave me" I grunted, probably not very attractive. Oh well.

"Ah, yeah. And that. I owe you for that too." He smiled, taking my hand as we sat down in the back seats "I'm sorry" he said, with a pouty mouth and sad puppy dog eyes.

I burst out laughing at that "Damon, what the fuck? I've never seen you make that face at anyone"

He kissed my hand and let it go to pour us a glass of Champaign, "Well I think it was time to use it, in the hope you'll forgive me" he said, passing me my glass.

"Hmm" I said, taking a sip of the wine "WELL, any more of this and I can see myself forgiving you for a lot of things" this Champaign was magnificent!

"That's what I thought" He said cheekily, smiling and watching me as I took another sip.

We sat in a comfortable silence for the 10 minute drive, instead of pulling up outside a resuturant, we pulled up outside a motel.

"Now, I know I'm supposed to be woo'ing you, but I thought… Well some people wanted to see you again" Damon said

"ELENA OH MY GOD!" Caroline cried, Running out of the motel porch, Stefan and Ric following behind her. I hopped out to hug them, since my memories had come back I had felt differently about them, instead of disconnected, I felt like they were family, even though I hadn't seen them in ages. They all hugged me tightly. Honestly, memories of Ric hadn't really come back, I knew he was my history teacher, and I knew from my memories of my last few days as a teenager that he was close, but I still didn't really know how close.

"Hey guys!" seeing Care and Stefan kind of bought back the love I felt I'd lost these past four years, almost like… Everything was right with the world. Now I remembered about the supernatural, I had remember how close we were. How much of a family we had become.

I turned to Damon, hugging him and kissing him gently "Family" I whispered. "You remember now?" he asked "It's all coming back" I said, squeezing him tight and getting back in the limo with everyone following behind me.

**DPOV**

The limo took off down the road for only a few miles and stopped at our destination. I stepped out and took Elena's hand in mine. This restaurant was one we saw on T.V together when we first started dating. She always said she wanted to go here, I had hoped she'd never been here.

"Damon, oh god!" she closed her eyes, eye fluttering. Clearly reliving the memory. "This restaurant! I made you watch some shitty reality TV show and this was the restaurant featured! Even on my, *cough* wage *cough* at the bar I can't afford to come here! Plus… reservations! How did you get in?" she was shocked, but in a good way, I know.

"I wish I could say compulsion, but alas it was just romance. I booked four years ahead! I knew I'd come back for you, to see you. I'd give you a false name if you were living happily, but I would have become your friend, and taken you here before I buggered off and left you be"

The rest of the gang walked inside to give us a moment. Elena turned to me, her hands on my cheeks.

"Damon Salvatore. I could never settle for anyone other than you. The hole in my heart… It was too great. I would have seen those blue eyes and known you were lying to me. I love you, Damon"

I can't believe she said it already. I looked into her eyes closer, god she had beautiful eyes.

"Jesus. You have no idea how it feels to here that after four years of pining after you" I kissed her gently, my hands now on her cheeks, also. "I love you so much, Elena Gilbert" I said, embracing her and holding her close. I could feel her smile against my neck.

"Home" she whispered. "I'm finally home"

"Of course, Elena. Because home is wherever we are together"


	4. Chapter 4

**EPOV**

Dinner was fantastic. It was so great to see most of the gang again! I had met with Caroline a few times while in uni, but I felt so distant from her, like she was different somehow. Probably because she always acted weird when we saw each other, not wanting to spill the beans of vampires and whatever else I had been forced to forget.

Everyone was joking about the past few years, Ric had met another girl who he was now engaged to. A doctor and lecturer at the local university at close to Mystic Falls. He was also lecturing there. He taught students about "mystical shit" as Damon had put it.

Caroline _hadn't_ been in school like she'd been telling me

"No! Fuck that!" she laughed "I have eternity ahead of me! We went travelling!" she beamed at Stefan, who blushed and coughed a little

"We?" I asked "Ahhh…" Wait, were they together?

"Oh, right… Ah, Stefan and I have been dating. About a year after you started uni…" Caroline said, she sounded so… Apologetic about the whole thing,

"That's cool!" I said, not really realizing why she was apologetic for, until Stefan looked at me oddly, it suddenly dawned on me that we had dated for a few years "oh, wait? You want my blessing?! Right right, yeah, of course! I mean… I'm still getting my memories back so I don't really remember… But from what Damon tells me, I had moved on anyway…." I glanced sideways at Damon, who was silently eating his very rear steak, not getting involved in this conversation.

"OK! That's great! Because… I wasn't sure what you remembered or how you felt about who or… What was going on and I'm really glad…"

"Care! It's OK! Stop rambling! Tell me about your guys travels!" I laughed as she launched into great detail about her travels with Stefan and during the summer breaks, Ric and Damon. They'd gone to Australia and New Zealand, South Africa and England. They hadn't gone to many countries that didn't speak English because their plan was to live in each country for a few years and immerse themselves in the culture and language. Maybe get a few degrees at some prestigious universities around the world.

When they finished telling their stories, I turned to Damon, "If you only joined them during the summers with Ric, what did you do during the rest of the year?" I asked, raising an eyebrow

"He **brooded** around at my apartment. He became Stefan for 4 years" Ric said, glaring at Damon

"Really, Damon? You didn't go out and live your life?" I asked

"First, _Elena_" he said, now glaring at me "I've lived for over 160 years! I've done a bit of traveling here and there already _ok, mother?" _he asked, in which everyone laughed

"and secondly, I wanted to wait for you, travel with you, see some of this stuff for the first time _with you_" he said softly, picking up my hand and kissing it gently.

"So sweet…" Caroline coo'd, quickly glancing down at the dessert menu as Damon shot his head up and threw imaginary daggers at her with his eyes

"So then that leaves Bonnie? Where is she? How come she didn't come?" I asked, also looking at the dessert menu. I was full as a bull, but seriously, if this was the only time I got into this restaurant, I needed to try at least _one _thing!

"Ahh, well after her and her coven had performed the spell on you, so that people will ill intent for you would not be able to see you or sense you, and as a result she kind of… Fell out with us" Caroline said sadly

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. If she didn't want to do it, she didn't have to

"I… May or may not have forced her into doing it" Stefan spoke.

Wait. Stefan spoke?

"Stefan? You… YOU forced her? It sounds like…."

"A Damon thing to do? Yes it does" Damon laughed, smiling at his brother "_I _wanted to contact a witch I had met in Africa, in fact I did contact her, but she could only make a few months after you would have started university. Leaving the entire summer for Klaus to find you, or for you to find another way other than myself to turn you. So…"

"So I forced Bonnie to do it. Something about threating to take out her organs kind of… made her do it" Stefan sighed "I never really liked her anyway, so it was no great loss to me" Stefan chuckled

"Well yeah but she was _my _best friend, Stefan!" Caroline turned in her seat to scowl at him

"You guys still not over that?" Damon asked

"Hell no! She called me a few times _'only to make sure Elena was still alive"_ but other than that when I tried to ask how she was, she just totally cut me off!" Caroline said, tears starting to fall down her cheeks.

"Oh, hey, I'm sorry baby. But El…"

"Elena's safety, I know I know.." Caroline grumbled, cuddling Stefan, and then pulling away quickly, wiping away her tears

"Who cares about that right now?! Lets get some dessert!" she smiled, waving the waiter over "I'll take… hrm, these.." She ran her finger down the entire menu "please!" she said

"Ma-am? All of them?" the waiter asked in shock "For the whole table, mam? Or…..?"

"Nope, this is just for me and Stefan. The life of a…. er… slim person"

She almost said vampire. Ha.

"OK…. Well, the rest of the table?" the waiter asked,

Damon and I also ordered everything, except we intended to share it with Ric, after all, myself and Ric didn't have the magical abilities to be able to eat _everything_ on the menu.

After dessert had come and gone, and I was feeling like the seams of this dress were about to burst, we slowly made our way to the limo waiting out front.

It was chilly out, I didn't mean to be the stereotypical girl you see on the movies who forgot to bring a jacket, but it's not like I went home before changing, or even thought to buy one when we were in the dress store. Luckily, just as I was about to move my had to my arm to rub it, Damon almost threw his jacket from himself and placed it around my shoulders before we ducked into the limo.

"OK! Now what are we doing, gang!" Care sounded way too excited for my liking, I was stuffed, I couldn't imagine doing anything other then taking this dress off and flopping down on the couch, or even the bed.

"_Well"_ Damon started, in a tone that made my ears perk up

"Elena and myself are going to her house, where she will _finally_ invite me inside and I will then proceed to…"

"Damon! This is our first date!"

"Let me finish!" he said, clearing his throat "Proceed to take her clothes off and dot dot dot". That's right. He said dot dot dot.

Care laughed at that, Stefan just knitted his eyebrows, and Ric rolled his eyes.

"She's still my step-daughter, niece, guardian child thing, you know mate" Ric said.

"And you say that everytime I make a joke about us being naked" Damon smirked

"Cuz I don't wanna know!" Ric said

"If she wasn't your step daughter 'niece thing' you'd wanna know" Damon trailed off, winking at me

The limo was wizzing past all the apartment blocks, I suddenly realized that I do not feel like being questioned about my living situation right now, "how did you afford this apartment" I could just here Care asking "what, did you prostitute yourself out? Haha" She'd follow up with. Which was the truth. Fuck.

I couldn't whisper it to Damon, so I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text to him

"Don't want to explain living situation atm, can we go to motel first then just me and u head home?"

I put my phone away, thankful Damon was already on his, searching a funny Youtube video to show the guys, he received the text, and looked at me and smiled, kissed me on my cheek while mouthing "yes".

"Hey guys, I don't feel too well, how about we hang out tomorrow? How long are you guys in town for?" I ask, faining an upset stomach by moving my hands and rubbing circles on myself.

"Oh baby are you sure?" Damon asked "I could really use a glass of burbon with Ric"

"I think I ate something funny…" I loved how he played along like he had no idea, made it a bit more believable. I hated lying to my friends, but I needed a legit excuse to give for living the life of luxury while I was _studying_ at one of the most prestigious universities in America for four years.

"No worries, 'Lena! We're leaving whenever you want! It's not like we have jobs or anything"

"Ah, hi!" Ric said "I do! However, it's summer, so I'm off for a few weeks between classes of summer school, so yeah, a few weeks"

"Ok great! I can go and ravish my baby…" Damon winked at me, argh, his cockiness was showing through after our first date. I only somewhat remember what he was like, in depth, anyway.

We dropped everyone off at their hotel a few blocks from my own place. The limo then pulled up to my house, and the driver opened the door for Damon and I.

"It was a great night, Damon" I said with a smirk after we stepped into the elevator

"What do you mean it's _been _a good night, Elena? The night isn't over" he turned to me, dropping my hand and snaking his arm around my waist, pulling me to him "the night is _far _from over" he growled, looking deep into my eyes, I got lost in his beautiful blue eyes, god, I recall always being lost in them, even before we dated.

He slowly lowered his head, his arm pulling me tighter against him, and in a flash, he dropped his lips to mine, his free hand was on my cheek, stroking it gently, his tongue gently licking my lips, his blunt teeth, nibbling away at them every few seconds, he gently dropped his hand from my cheek to my breast,

"Elena…" he moaned, stroking the side of my breast gently,

"mmmm" I moaned into his mouth, getting way to carried away then I wanted too on our first date,

"DING!" rang the elevator, letting us know we'd reached the top floor of the apartment building

"Damon…" I attempted to say between kisses "My floor, it…" he kept kissing me, pushing me backwards through the elevator door. Then he stopped, and just stood there.

"Elena…." He growled, "Let me in before the doors close and it goes back down" I smirked at him then. Oh yeah. I owned this apartment.

"Hmmmmm, I don't know…." I laughed, watching as the elevator door started to close on him "OK Damon, I guess you can come inside" I said, laughing.

He however, was _not_ laughing, and after almost ripping the elevator doors open, he charged after me! Running around in a tight silk dress was _not_ easy, and eventually after running around the apartment screming my head off – in a fun way, of course – I tripped over myself, landing flat, tummy first on the hard wooden floors. Damon then followed suit, although purposely "falling" on top of me, he gathered my long hair to one side, exposing the left side of my neck,

"mmmm" he hummed "Where were we?" he deeply whispered, taking in a deep sniff of my scent that was most strongest on my neck, it tickled my neck when he eventually took a breath out, his full weight on me, his one hand skimming up and down the right side of my body, and his other was holding me down, not that I could push him off, anyway.

"Damon" I gasped, "I can't… breath…" which was partially true, but maybe not as much as I was letting on with my fake weezing, I just wanted to take this to the bedroom, and I had a feeling he'd take me right here on the floor.

"Oh?" He said, still with his head nuzzled into my neck licking and nipping away he slowly got up and pulled me with him, "This dress is beautiful but it needs to come off" he started to rip at it, tearing it to pieces.

"Damon!" I scolded "This is a brand new dress! And.. It's our first date… Don't you think we should take things slow?"

This didn't stop him, he could still read me like a book, the moment he kissed me in the elevator there was no way I was going to pass up having him in my bed. I'd waited 4 years for this, even if I didn't realize it was what I needed…


End file.
